Ryan Harrison made his debut in the first reverse singles winning a very close affair 7-6(0), 7-6(4) over Michael Lammer in 2 hours and 16 minutes.

The first set went to a tie breaker that Harrison won at love. The second set saw the American get the first break of the match with the help of a net cord that popped over Lammer’s racquet. He then saved a break point with big serves to hold to 2-0.

However the Swiss player fought back winning three games in a row. Leading 3-2, Lammer had multiple break point chances for 4-2 but Ryan Harrison played gutsy tennis to hold to 3-3. The second set too went to a tie break where Ryan Harrison made an aggressive start pulling off some blistering winners to lead 5-0. Lammer again fought back to 4-5 as the teenager seemed a bit nervous making errors off both flanks. A couple of big serves though enabled Harrison to close out the match and a 4-0 lead for U.S.

John Isner beat Marco Chuidinelli 6-3, 6-4 in under an hour to complete a humiliating 5-0 whitewash of Switzerland.

John Isner

John Isner continued where he left off against Federer making stunning returns and big forehands to break serve early and lead 3-0. Chuidinelli had a brief chance to fight back getting to 0-30 on Isner’s serve at 1-3 but it was quickly snuffed out with big serves.

This tie could prove to be a career-changer for Isner as it showed him he could play very well on clay. On clay Isner appears to have more time to set up for his ground strokes and the slow court allows him to track down his opponent’s shots as well. Isner broke in the third game of the second set and went up 3-1. The set continued in this fashion till Isner served out the match with four consecutive aces. The U.S now awaits the winner of France and Canada in the quarter finals in April. Federer now has to wait one more year to look at adding a missing Davis Cup title to his trophy cabinet.